Islanders set to return to Coliseum for preseason match

By: Joseph WolkinJune 15, 2017Comments Off on Islanders set to return to Coliseum for preseason match

The New York Islanders are returning to the Island, but only for one afternoon.

Come Sept. 17, the Islanders will step foot into their former home for the first time since the 2014-2015 season concluded, according to a statement from Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment which manages the arena. The Islanders will be playing the Philadelphia Flyers.

The news comes just over two weeks after NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told the New York Post that the team would not play six games in the new facility, despite developer Bruce Ratner’s original agreement with the Islanders. Nassau County and Ratner had a deal that promised four regular season games at the new Nassau Coliseum, along with two preseason matches.

However, the organization will stay at its home of what will be three years, the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn for the 2017-2018 season.

The refurbished Coliseum re-opened with Billy Joel taking the center stage in April, giving the facility its first event after a $160 million renovation project.

The Islanders are looking for potential new homes now that they are in the process of renegotiating terms with the Barclays Center, which has until Jan. 1, 2018 to agree to fresh terms. The sides can decide to opt out of the contract or continue the current 25-year deal.

Nassau Coliseum’s new arrangement seats around 13,500 people for hockey, compared to the Barclays Center, which seats 18,103 people.